What newcomers get wrong

None of these are stupid. Every one of them is something a reasonable person does, and every one of them has cost somebody in this organisation money or time.

Not bringing enough paper

Birth certificates, marriage certificates, school records, vaccination records, transcripts, professional licences, a reference from your last employer. Getting any of these afterwards takes months and somebody at home doing you a favour. Bring more than you think you need.

Waiting to be ready

Applying for a Social Security number, starting a credit file, getting a degree evaluated. All three are slow, all three block something else, and all three feel premature when you are still finding your way. Start them before you feel ready.

Buying a car badly

A car bought in the first fortnight, in a hurry, with no credit and no mechanic to look at it, is how many families lose two or three thousand dollars. Ask your chapter for a mechanic before you buy, not after.

Taking the first job and staying in it

Taking the first job is usually right; bills do not wait. Staying in it for three years because the paperwork to do otherwise felt impossible is the expensive part, and it is the reason to start the credential evaluation in month two rather than year two.

Trying to do it alone

The most expensive mistake, and the one this whole organisation exists because of. Somebody in your city has already made every mistake on this list. Asking them costs you nothing except the thing that makes it hard to ask.

Nobody has recorded when this was last checked.

Not legal, immigration, tax or medical advice. This is what people who have done it wish somebody had told them.